7 April 2010 Lamberts Bay to Strandfontein

I think I should have stayed in bed today.....Will get to the reasons just now.

I told you that we were going out to the Muisbosskerm for dinner We headed out of town to be there by 6:30 and caught the setting sun. A very cold wind had started blowing off the sea late in the afternoon, so I was prepared with thermal underwear, scarf and beany.

The venue is, as the name says, a "skerm" but it does at least have some kind of a roof over part of the enclosure. (skerm = shelter/screen made out of dried branches from the area). It does keep the wind out to some degree, but it is very much an outdoor dining area.

The food is prepared on fires in the center of the "skerm" and is then placed on trays at the dishing up area. We started off with some herring strips before the hot food was served.

They do a selection of fish (angel, snoek, kingklip etc), paella, calamari, sweet potato, potato chips, salad and crayfish (for which you pay extra!), freshly baked bread and coffee with koeksisters for dessert. You have to eat, using mussel shells (I did not appreciate this at all - I also detest plastic cutlery!). All in all, it was a good dinner, but somehow I was expecting more...

On the drive back to our campsite, I was trying to spot some wildlife using our spotlight. Just before we entered town, we were rewarded: a Bat-eared Fox, too cute for words!

To get back to today: It was freezing cold this morning, but we had blue skies and very little wind. Just before I left camp, I noticed a cut of about 7mm in my front tyre - one could see the tyre liner through the cut. This prompted me to tie a spare tyre onto my back carrier, just in case it blew. I got going at about 8:30 and after I had done 7km, I noticed that my bicycle gps was missing! I turned around, cycled back 5 km, just to find the device shattered in the road (at the gate of the toll road which again runs along the railway line). Needless to say I was very upset, but well, what can one do...

I counted 6 "Kaapse Grysbokkies" and later saw a Meerkat. 3 new bird species as well, for this trip. The road was horrendous and it took utter determination not to throw in the towel. But we all know that I am "hardegat" and so I gritted my teeth and kept going. Yesterday we had bad corrugations, today the corrugations were just as bad, but there was also lots of loose sand. I had to get off the bike a few times to avoid falling off. Don't know how they can charge cars a toll fee for such a bad road!

My sense of humour was totally lost by the time I got to Doringbaai, one of my favourite coastal sites. Thys and Nerina had passed me earlier and stopped at Doringbaai to make coffee. We enjoyed the view, coffee and nice weather and got going again to cover the last 8km to Strandfontein. This, fortunately was on tar!!!!

Our campsite, is on top of the first set of dunes, with a magnificent view of the Atlantic Ocean. When we arrived here, I took my camping chair, binoculars and a cold Hunters and parked off on the edge of the campsite. And, yippee again, another new sighting for me, this time a mammal: Heaviside Dolphins. They were doing tailflips, launching themselves out of the waves and surfing like pro's (which they are!)

Then off to have a shower - a well deserved shower, just to discover that the water was ice cold! If I thought I had lost my sense of humour earlier, I was wrong! This was the final straw!

Enough complaining.

Thys went fishing again this afternoon while Nerina worked on her computer and I washed and oiled my bike. Also changed to semi-slick tyres again as most cycling for the next week and a half will be on tar. (Looking forward to some good roads, I must admit!)

Total distance today was only 56.14km, but it was one of the toughest. Hopefully there aren't many more like this.

Tomorrow we are off to Van Rhynsdorp and will have a rest day there again.

Supper is ready, so I will log off.